Stock Up On Pool Noodles Now To Make These DIY Giant Flowers

DIY giant pool noodle flower

We know school is in limbo, and our world has been rocked with the arrival and contagion of COVID-19. Spring plays were cancelled, graduations were virtual, and birthday parties became drive-by, honking car parades. Although you may not have a large school play or birthday party in the very near future, it will happen again. In fact, small, safer gatherings are happening now. When the time is right (even if it’s next spring) we have the cutest decoration, DIY giant flowers, that costs less than $5 each. We are sharing this spring and summer DIY craft now, so you remember to stock up while they are “in season,” (and store the ones you have) to make these large DIY flowers. It’s easy to do, and adds a dose of sunshine to any space, or party.

Sorry about the ‘non-professional’ photos. This was a quick project in spring 2019, and didn’t think it would be such a hit, so cell phone photos have to do.

DIY Giant Flowers Made With Pool Noodles

Materials:

  • Giant tissue paper flowers
  • Pool noodles, green
  • Industrial buckets, Walmart (they were about $2.97)
  • Cardboard
  • X-acto knife
  • Acrylic paint, green
  • Rock
  • Card stock, green
  • Wood skewer, thin
  • Glue, glue stick works fine
  • Packaging tape

walmart buckets

walmart pool noodles

Step 1: Buy stems, or the pool noodles, from Walmart. Also at Walmart, find the colors buckets that will serve as the “pots” or “planter” for the flowers.

cardboard cut out and pool noodle stem

Step 2: Cut left over cardboard packages from all those Amazon packages you’ve been buying. Trace the opening of the bucket on the cardboard, and cut it slightly inside the pencil outline. I find that an X-acto knife works better than scissors when working with cardboard. Also, trace the outline of the noodle in the center of the cardboard circle. This will be where the stems fits inside, so cut it slightly inside the pencil outline as well, so the pool noodle fits nice and snug.

green cardboard cut out

Step 3: Paint the cardboard with acrylic green paint.

diy pool noodle flower

Step 4: Add heavy rocks to the bottom of the buckets. We know it’s just a pool noodle and a tissue flower, but it’s somewhat heavy, so you will need something to stabilize them so they are not top-heavy.

diy pool noodle flowers

 

giant DIY flower

Step 5: Cut leaves from green paper (we love Astrobrights Paper), and glue two stems with a large thin wood skewer in the middle. This will look like a “leaf vein”, and also makes it easy to just stick inside the noodle so it will stay in place.

diy pool noodle flowers

Step 6: Insert the stems inside cardboard cut-outs, and then insert it inside the buckets. They fit nice and snug in the buckets. Fluff some pre-made tissue flowers from Amazon. They come with a string attached, so I wrapped it around the top of the noodle and also secured it with a piece of packaging tape.

Here are a couple flowers “on set” for a spring singing pageant.
spring school play DIY decor

New Craft We Love – DIY Tie-Dye Coffee Filter Art

diy coffee filter art for kids-tie dye butterfly

Coffee filters don’t just come to the rescue every morning as you make your cup (or two, or three) of coffee. They can be the inspiration for DIY art projects, too. We made beautiful DIY butterflies with tie-dye coffee filters. We all loved this project – literally it was fun for my 7-year-old all to my 30-something self (and all the ages in-between). It’s so therapeutic to color various patterns and squiggles on the filters, and then watch it magically create a tie-dye pattern with water.

We shared all the details with Momtastic. Check it out here.

 

DIY Perler Bead Art & Happy Snail Mail During COVID-19 2020

DIY perler bead art for easter-happy snail mail for kids

Easter is going to be one for the books this year. Due to COVID-19, we may or may not have eggs due to store shortages, we will not be doing an egg hunt with all our families, we won’t be drinking our aunt’s famous bloody mary’s or mimosas as we catch up with our cousins, grandparents, aunts and uncles, and we won’t be at mass with our faith communities. COVID-19 has brought all kinds of emotions, fears and also a personal challenges to be grateful for the simple blessings in life we often take for granted. We are beyond blessed that we can stay-at-home with our little families, and although this Easter will be hard, we pray it also brings hope. Hope in humanity. Hope that things will get better. Hope because He is risen. Hope that good things are on the horizon.

We are doing out best to get creative with the art supplies we have on-hand during these long days at home, and since we miss our family and friends so much, we wanted to send happy snail mail to remind them how much we love them. If you don’t have perler beads, we highly suggest that you buy them from Amazon. After all, we have 4 more weeks (at least) at home. The tiny beads provide hours of fun and creativity. If Easter is not feasible for DIY perler bead art, then do whatever designs you want, and glue them on cards to send through the mail. It will add sunshine to someone’s day, and right now, it’s the small things and acts of kindness that make a BIG difference.

DIY perler bead art for easter-happy snail mail for kids

This is so simple, it doesn’t require official steps. First, buy the beads (or use the beads you already have). Next, design something small that can fit on a card. You can find designs online, or create your own. Follow directions for ironing so the beads fuse together. Lastly, with a hot glue gun, glue it to a blank card, and write a sweet note inside. You can do this DIY perler bead craft year-round. For the words on the front, you can use a label machine, stamps, or write the words.

We hope you find the silver lining during these uncertain times, or something to be hopeful for in the coming months. Happy Easter. We are sending love and hope to everyone right now.

DIY perler bead art for easter-happy snail mail for kids

DIY perler bead art for easter-happy snail mail for kids

DIY perler bead art for easter-happy snail mail for kids

DIY perler bead art for easter-happy snail mail for kids-sunshine during COVID-19

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Game On: DIY Football Checkers

diy-football-checkers-game-time-fun-for-everyone

‘Tis the season for tailgating, game day snacks, rivalries, comebacks and all things football. With friendly competition in mind, plus tackle-free zones (home, school and the parking lot), we created a DIY football checkers game. It’s fun for the whole family. Pack it for your next tailgate, or play it at home! Our kids love it.

We shared all the details for how to make this DIY game on Momtastic.

diy-football-checkers-game-time-fun-for-everyone

 

KIND Snacks For Kids: Less Sugar, More Fun For Moms And Kids

low sugar snacks for kids

We are that snack happy family. At any given time, you can find us with fresh-cut fruit, nuts or nutritious packed bars in our purses and cars. For some reason, we are always hungry on-the-go. That snacking mentality was passed along to our kids, and they love snacks just as much as we do. In fact, we often try to avoid those inevitable hangry meltdowns when we’re out and about having fun with healthy snacks. But, it’s hard to find healthy snacks that are easy to pack, low in sugar and something that our kids will actually eat.

With 8 kids between the three of us, we try to avoid sugar high’s as often as possible, otherwise we are like a circus coming to town. And, not a good circus – a loud, meltdown-ridden, whiney one. According to a recent study*, we are not alone. In fact, 64% of parents want to limit the sugar in their children’s snack. When there’s less sugar, it’s more fun (and healthy) for everyone. Well, we’re happy to share that snacking for kids just got a lot more yummy, fun and nutritious with KIND Snacks new granola bar for kids! We packed our KIND Kids Bars for a recent playdate at the park. It was a win/win – our kids loved them (and we have some picky eaters in our crew), and we enjoyed them, too! They are gluten free, so we couldn’t help ourselves. Plus, with 5 grams of sugar or less, no artificial colors, flavors or preservatives, how could we not eat it? Our kids loved the chewy peanut butter and chocolate flavor best, but ate them all, including the chewy chocolate chip and chewy honey oat!

low sugar, yummy granola bar for kids

low sugar, yummy granola bar for kids

low sugar, yummy granola bar for kids

low sugar, yummy granola bar for kids

low sugar, yummy granola bar for kids

low sugar, yummy granola bar for kids

low sugar, yummy granola bar for kids and moms

Whether you’re looking for an easy, low sugar item to pack for lunch or snack at school, or perhaps your kids need that nutritious boost of energy to make it through fun playdates, try KIND Snack bars for kids. They make it in our grocery cart every time we visit the store, and we don’t feel bad about it at all!

snacks for kids

low sugar, yummy granola bar for kids

*This poll was conducted by Morning Consult on July 12, 2018 among a national sample of 1,001 parents with children ages 5-12. Results from the survey have a margin of error +/-3%.

KIND Snacks sent us some delicious bars for this post, free of charge. We’re so happy they did! All opinions are honest, and our own. No other type of compensation was received. Thanks for supporting the companies that support j. sorelle. We ate KIND bars, even before this post.